The present application relates generally to antennas for radio communication devices and, more particularly, to internal antennas and communications terminals employing the same.
Portable radio communications devices, such as mobile terminals, are increasingly packing more circuitry and larger displays and keypads/keyboards within small housings. As a consequence, there has been increased use of semi-planar antennas, such as a multi-branch inverted-F antenna, that may occupy a smaller space within a terminal housing. The semi-planar antenna can be printed on/mounted to the terminal's main printed circuit board, but they are placed away from a ground plane of the terminal's printed circuit board to improve performance. Constraints on the available space and location for the branches of the antenna can negatively affect the antenna performance. For example, many terminals locate the antenna on a lower side of the terminal's printed circuit board when the terminal is held with the display facing upward.